I’m gonna throw “Brokeback Mountain” into this discussion. Being a married straight white male, I thought the movie was absolutely heartbreaking, but fantastic entertainment just the same. And just like David said about trashy gay cinema not being trash because it’s gay. “Brokeback Mountain” was a great film on its own merit, not because it was about a gay subject.
And, anybody else notice how all these states have started legalizing gay marriage since, like, 2006, a year after “Brokeback” was released in theaters? Coincidence?
Whoa whoa whoa,
who have Bunuel, Pasolini, and Spike Lee liberated.?
This topic kind of makes my head hurt. In terms of identity, I’ve had an atypical life experience (beyond the very “typical” experience of growing up in small town, midwestern America), and I don’t really know if I want to discuss it on this site even if it would add to the discussion here because it’s not something that a vast majority of the public seems to understand. There’s a lot of hurt and anger there, and I don’t know if this site is the place to bring it up. I dunno, I might change my mind later.
I will say that I mostly agree with David. I very much believe in NOT being confrontational, that there are universal qualities of good art that anyone should be able to understand. I don’t like to focus on identity politics because of that. I spent all of my life up to college in a fairly conservative and unwelcoming environment for people not part of the norm, and I’ve often felt almost as unwelcome and implicated by the activism and identity-politics obsessed people at college. My circumstances are not a choice (political or otherwise), and I wish people inside those communities would stop making it seem like they are.
I honestly think my desires are as conservative as anyone in America or anywhere else – I just want to fit in, have security with who I am and not have to deal with politics or think about it. Unfortunately that’s never gonna be possible for me. I believe very strongly in acceptance and equal treatment for all people, so that must make me political. For not accepting the roles given to me and wanting to live with some degree of integrity and honesty, I guess my beliefs are radical. It’s the same for anybody in this world, unfortunately, but especially for people who aren’t white straight males.
So politics will always be a huge thing, but concentrating on it so much just clouds me with so much anger and sadness. To think of all the gay/lesbian/trans people who are killed by bigots for just expressing themselves in this country and around the world. It’s just an extreme sadness for me, I can’t deal with all of that. It makes life seem insurmountable. I’ve already been down that road and it hasn’t helped.
Sometimes the best art just makes you feel freer — it might not be overtly political (or it might), but whatever it is, it makes you feel like unconventional life choices are possible, or expressing yourself, or just feeling good. Not in a vapid way. And of course I find it hard to think of an example right now, lol.
Thanks for the soul searching, Liz, which is not the easiest thing to do on this kind of forum. Or anywhere for that matter. I think it’s important, above all, to know oneself — politics can sometimes be like blinders against truly deep self awareness. On either the left or the right. And of course, it’s always hard to say how “politics” in a general sense helps us at all in our day to day lives (though our lives are impacted by it). Certainly, you’re right, it doesn’t do any good for Matthew Shephard that his murder brought about some investigation of hate crime legislation. When you do have a minority identity (particularly a sexual one), you’re still expected in this culture to learn how to placate and negotiate your interactions with the majority, or else — you know? So it comes down to the most day to day and ordinary of human interactions, which can be subject to law but not really to “politics.”
I’m just thinking off the top of the head here, sort of.
Yeah, this thread is a bit of a brain-hurter.
I think my views come from something a bit similar: I have a difficult time idealizing “communities,” and I learned early enough that there are plenty of assholes in communities I (from an identity politics POV) perhaps ought to feel some fraternity with. But people – ANY people, any kind of people, have to have some depth, breadth, some sense of the world, and some kind of moral and ethical integrity underpinning however it is that they live. And while I hope to find that in everyone, I don’t assume it in anyone.
Thus – to get back to film – I’m not apolitical, and don’t dislike political art, but I often have a deep suspicion that film (or music, or other creative product) that is very aggressively about its’ own politics is – too often – more about the ego of the person creating the art, than anything else. There are exceptions of course.
I also dislike ‘spokesmen’ – whether self-appointed, or accidental (which is generally self-appointed, in a more covert fashion). I think individuals, and individual stories, are very powerful, and oft-given short-shrift in pop culture, and more high-minded cultural produce as well. I think lumping a culture into some broad, overarching set of sweeping statements, or aesthetics gets (to me) dangerously close to stereotype, and even well-intended stereotypes strike me as a diminishment of individuals’ authority over their own stories, and are frankly patronizing. Being lumped into a box – whether by your people, or any other people – is lazy thinking, to me, and if I am ridiculous enough to insist that folks around me have a bit more intelligence than that, I definitely demand it in film.
@ Liz:
Check out a documentary called Dangerous Living. It’s about 6 or 7 years old. It’s not as in depth as it should have been (the interviews with the various activists should have been more extensive), and there’s a voice over that is a tad distracting. What makes it worth seeking out in spite of its’ flaws is the interviews: gay and lesbian activists from Guatemala, Brazil, Jamaica, Uganda, Egypt, Namibia, India, Vietnam, Fiji, The Philippines and a few other places. Your comment: To think of all the gay/lesbian/trans people who are killed by bigots for just expressing themselves in this country and around the world. reminded me of it.
However it’s far from depressing – the many of the activists interviewed have gone through things the likes of which very, very few Americans could imagine, and some of them were driven into exile in other countries. However, their commitment to the task at hand is fierce, and makes for riveting viewing. The gentleman from Egypt managed – from exile – to bring down the wrath of Human Rights Watch (whatever that may be worth) upon some of that country’s homophobic legal processes, and the activist from India is of some connection to the legal team behind the very recent (2 days ago) ruling overtunrning India’s colonial-era criminalization of homosexuality.
Films express opinion and convey a meaning out to the audience, when a Director or Writer has a feeling about something be it, Politics or Society or Suffering, it is our duty as a audience to observe and form an opinion. But in reality most people have a set-in-stone opinion about the films subject, and that drastically changes the audiences opinion on said film. But this type of film is more or less journalism, you observe and report, you observe the subject of the film, wither it be in your head or a real thing. Take example Gomorrah, it steps back and looks at the inter-cohesiveness of the mob and the relaters and the politicians, it is more of a undercover journalism in a fake backdrop than a drama, and that is what makes a good film of politics or society or poverty, it is that you don’t feel like it is a film rather a third-person look on these people’s lives. If a film can do that and still portray a message then it can effect people’s opinions on that subject, and maybe alter a people’s view on live as a whole. If that co-insides with politics than you haven’t necessarily made a good movie you just reached out and punched the public on their blind-side.
dope fiend willy
well said, David.